My Review of Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League (2025)

 

Written by Kazuki Nakashima

Directed by Junpei Mizusaki And Shinji Takagi

Batman: "Don't forget. It is most dangerous when a friend turns into an enemy."

The day before I had rewatched Batman Ninja in preparation for this sequel and it's a good job I had. It might be seven years between movie releases but almost no time passed here. Well, maybe a day.

The consequences of Grodd's Quake Engine meant that Feudal Japan was now floating over Gotham City and it didn't take long for Batman (Koichi Yadamera) and Robin (Yuki Kaji) to go up and investigate what was going on. Last time, it was Batman's rogue, this time it's a League.

The League being the Yakuza League and their members involved alternative versions of Superman (Takaya Kamikawa), Wonder Woman (Romi Park), Jessica Cruz (Ayane Sakura), The Flash (Nobuyuki Hiyama) and Aquaman (Akio Otsuka). As a League, they're somewhat of a splintered bunch.

First of all, Wonder Woman's not even taking part in the big fights, proving to be more of an ally to Batman and Robin as well as a protector to Harley Quinn (Rie Kugimiya) while Superman's a rather brutish enforcer to the real villain of the piece, Ra's al Ghul (Kazuhiro Yamiji). The rest of them are muscle that eventually come good by the third act.

Ra's al Ghul as the main villain with a plot very much in line with him did work for the film. He did try to sway Damian to his side but the latter refused and ended up encased with a lot of sushi (no, really). The Joker (Wataru Takagi) also factored into things with his notable contribution being to save Batman's life for his own selfish reasons.

As for the rest of Batman's support team - there was the returns of Nightwing (Daisuke Ono), Red Hood (Akira Ishida), Red Robin (Kengo Kawanishi) and Alfred Pennyworth (Hocho Otsuka) all returned and we had Commissioner Gordon (Masaki Tersoma) also in the mix. Throw in some good fight scenes, redemption plots and time being restored properly and you had the making of a great sequel.

- The English dub actors are Joe Daniels, Nathan Wilson, Bryson Baugus, David Harbold, Karlii Hoch, Molly Searcy, Cyrus Rodas, Annie Wild, John Swasey and Aaron Campbell.

- Harley's new look was more purple and black and Red Hood's seemed in line with his recent comic look.

- Most of the League's back stories in Feudal Japan were similar but Barry was a low level gang member and Jessica a gambling addict.

- Chronology: A day since the events of Batman Ninja.

Batman Ninja vs. Yakuza League turned out to be a rather enjoyable sequel. Granted, I'm over the Evil Superman story in any continuity but it was handled recently here and fortunately, Ra's was the main villain. If there's scope to do a third one, I hope they do.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

My Review of Batman Ninja (2018)

 

Written by Kazuki Nakashima And Leo Chu And Eric S. Garcia

Directed by Junpei Mizusaki

Batman: "This is madness."

With the sequel to this anime now released, I had to go back and rewatch this one. I'll admit I wasn't that taken with it at first but it's worth a second look.

Over the years, DC has embraced anime with the likes of My Adventures With Superman and Suicide Squad Isekai. This movie preceded both of those shows, though it had more in common with the latter, premise wise.

The film started with Batman (Koichi Yamadera) battling Gorilla Grodd (Takehito Koyasu) in Gotham City, only for the latter's Quake Engine to send him into Feudal Japan. Of course, it wouldn't just be Batman in that particular era.

This movie had not only Alfred Pennyworth (Hochu Otsuka) but also Nightwing (Daisuke Ono), Red Hood (Akira Ishida), Red Robin (Kengo Kawanishi) and Robin (Yuki Kaji). They made up Team Batman but what about the Rogues themselves? Again, this film didn't fall short.

There was Joker (Watery Takagi), Catwoman (Ai Kakuma), Harley Quinn (Rie Kugimiya), Poison Ivy (Atsuko Tanaka), the Penguin (Cho), Deathstroke (Junichi Sawabe), Bane (Kenta Miyake) and Two Face (Toshiyuki Morikawa). It's a fairly large gallery of baddies to use for this movie but great additions nonetheless.

Add in some original characters such as Bat Clan leader Eian (Yoji Ueda), Robin's pet monkey Monkichi (Anna Mugiho) and the latter's friend, Monmi (Juri Nagatsuma) and some rather cool battle sequences and I think I might have misjudged this movie. It's definitely a lot better than I remembered it to be.

- A mid credit scene had Catwoman selling weapons while we saw a horse drawn Batmobile.

- Yet another animated movie where Joker and Harley are a couple but we did get some Gotham City Sirens allusions here.

- The English dub actors are Roger Craig Smith, Tony Hale, Grey Griffin, Tara Strong, Adam Croasdell, Fred Tatasciore, Yuri Lowenthal, Will Friedle, Eric Bauza, Tom Kenny and Matthew Yang King

- Chronology: Present day Gotham City and Feudal Japan.

I'm glad I did give Batman Ninja a second chance. It's better second time around and there's some pretty good sequences throughout the whole movie, along with a good enough to keep it going. Now it's on to the sequel.

Rating: 7 out of 10